Folding bassinet



Oct. 21, 1947.

E. M. FARRAND FOLDING BASS INET Filed March '13, 1944 Patented Oct. 21, 1947 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 1 Claim.

This invention relates to a folding bassinet and includes generally a flexible fabric body having pockets therein to receive stifiening panels for assisting in maintaining the article in its proper shape.

In my prior Patent Number 2,253,024, I disclose a folding bassinet of this general type. The present invention embodies improvements on the structure shown in said patent by utilizing a somewhat simpler form of construction and also incorporating elongated side pocket construction which overcomes difficulties found in the structure disclosed in said patent.

In my previous construction the elongated side pockets were open at their lower edges. These had the advantage of properly retaining the stiifening panels in position when the device was set up, but it was found that the inner side fabric of the side pocket portions would work upwardly in view of the fact that it was unsecured along its lower edge between the ends. As the material worked up from the inside it slid over the top of the stiffening panel and caused the outer side pocket portions to sag, thus detracting from the neatness and general appearance of the article.

It is a general object of the present invention to provide a relatively simply manufactured device of the type described above wherein the construction is facilitated, and the above mentioned dislocation and sagging of the side pocket portions is eliminated.

The above and other objects and advantages of the invention will more fully appear from the following description made in connection with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the views, and, in which:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a bassinet formed in accordance with the invention with a portion of one of the end pockets broken away to expose a stiffening panel;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of the device partially folded;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of one embodiment of the invention with the stiffening panels removed;

Fig. 4 is a plan view of another embodiment thereof showing dotted line positions of parts thereof during the process of construction; and

Fig. 5 is a plan view of another embodiment showing parts in dotted lines to illustrate the partially constructed device.

In Figure 3 there is shown a main body sheet 6 of flexible fabric, this sheet being of elongated rectangular shape with the corners rounded.

The main sheet 6 has a number of rectangular areas therein providing a bottom area 1, sides 8, and ends 9. The four corner portions of the sheet 6 constitute corner flaps I0. Extending across the intermediate portion of the main sheet 6 is a second or auxiliary sheet I l which is adapted to cover the bottom area I and side areas 8 of said main sheet and, as shown in the drawing, the second sheet II is secured as by sewing to the intermediate side portions of the main sheet 6 and across said sheet along one of the transverse edges of the second sheet H. The second sheet is also sewed to the main body sheet along lines l2 which extend longitudinally of the main body sheet and form lines of division.

between the main sheet bottom area 1 and its side areas 8, thus providing bottom and side pocket portions having open mouths I3 and I 4.

The end areas 9 on the main sheet 6 have their pocket members I5 placed thereupon, and they are sewed to the main sheet along the outer side and end edges of said sheets I5. This provides end pockets having open mouths l6.

Corner tie strings l! are secured at the outer corner portions of the side and end pockets and said pockets are adapted to removably receive stiffening panels l8 so that the device can be set up in the manner shown in Figure 1 or folded as indicated in Figure 2.

In Figure 4 there is shown a main body sheet [9 which has a rectangular auxiliary sheet portion 20 extending from a side thereof and then folded across the intermediate portion of the main body sheet 19. The auxiliary sheet portion 20 is sewed to the main sheet 19 and across the latter along one side of the sheet 20 and the free end of the sheet 20 is sewed to the 0pposite side edge of the main sheet I 9 as indicated in the drawing. The two sheets are also sewed together along lines 2! thereby providing a bottom pocket 22 and side pockets 23. The ends of the main sheet l9 have folded over sheet portions 24 which are sewed as indicated by the dotted lines to provide end pockets 25. Again as in the structure of Figure 3 the side pockets 23 have open months 26 which extend across ends of said side pockets rather than along the lower longitudinal edges of said side pockets as disclosed in my prior patent.

In Figure 5 there is shown another form of the invention. In this case there is a lower sheet portion 21 of elongated rectangular shape and an upper sheet portion 28 which extends across the intermediate portion of the sheet 21 and beyond its side edges. The extended ends of the sheets 21 and 2B are folded upon themselves to form end pockets 29 and elongated side pockets 30, the side pockets again having open mouths 3| across the ends similar to the mouth-s 26 and M in the side pockets of the embodiments of Figures 3 and 4. The two sheets 21 and 28 are, of course, sewn together along the lines 32 to provide a bottom pocket 33 similar to those in the other embodiments.

When stiffening panels are inserted in the bottom side and end pockets the sides and ends can then be turned upwardly and their corners joined by the tie strings illustrated to provide a readily collapsible bassinet construction. The panels can, of course, be readily removed so that the flexible fabric can be laundered.

One of the important features of the present invention is the placing of the mouths of the elongated side pockets at the ends of said pockets rather than along their elongated bottom edges as in my prior construction. Thus the lower edges of the elongated side pockets are fastened throughout their lengths so that they will not ride upwardly and cause the above mentioned unsightly displacement of the side pocket fabric and sagging or wrinkling thereof.

The bassinet can be readily collapsed and folded into a. flat compact bundle which can be tied by a pair of strings or bands 34 extending across and secured intermediate their ends to the under side of the bottom of the device.

I have also provided a bassinet whose flexible fabric body is made of simply cut patterns which can be easily assembled with a minimum of sewing thereby decreasing the cost of manufacture.

It will, of course, be understood that various changes may be made in the form, details, arrangement and proportions of the various parts 4 without departing from the scope of my invention.

What I claim is: In a folding bassinet, a flexible fabric main body sheet having elongated rectangular areas defining a central bottom, a pair of ends and a pair of sides, a second flexible fabric sheet extending across an intermediate portion of said body with the end portions of said body sheet extending beyond opposite sides of said second sheet, said second sheet being sewed along the outer intermediate side portions of said main body sheet and also being sewed to said main body sheet along the sides of said bottom area of said main body sheet, an edge of said second sheet extending transversely across said main body sheet but unsecured to said main body sheet across an end of each of said main body bottom area and said main body side areas to provide bottom and side pockets for said main body sheet and stiffening panels removably inserted in said pockets.

' EDITH M. FARRAND.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,253,024 Farrand Aug. 19, 1941 2,231,108 Brady Feb. 11, 1941 2,041,919 Gaston May 26, 1936 336,679 William-s Feb. 23, 1886 FOREIGN PATENTS Number Country Date 472,841 Great Britain Oct. 1, 1937 314,318 Italy Jan. 23, 193i 439,410 Great Britain Dec. 5, 1935 

